How to Submit Your First Preprint to PubArx: A Step-by-Step Guide

Sharing your research as a preprint makes it available to readers right away, gives it a permanent record that can be cited, and invites feedback before formal publication. This guide walks you through your first submission to PubArx, from preparing the PDF to sharing the published paper.

PubArx is a free, community-run preprint repository for all disciplines. Every submission is screened by a moderator before it is published, and authors can open their papers to signed community review.

Before you start

Have these ready before you begin:

The final PDF of your manuscript (see Step 1).
The title and abstract, exactly as they appear in the PDF.
The author list in publication order, with affiliations and ORCID iDs where available.
Consent from every co-author to post the preprint under the licence you choose.

Step 1: Prepare your manuscript

Make sure the manuscript is complete and ready to be read by anyone:

Title and authors on the first page. Put the title and all authors at the top of page 1. Google Scholar reads them from there.
Selectable text. Export the PDF from your word processor or LaTeX. Do not upload a scanned document.
References. Include a complete references section, with DOIs where possible.
File size. The maximum is 20 MB; under 5 MB is best. Save plots as vector graphics and photographs as JPEG.
No protection or active content. Files with a password, scripts, attachments or interactive forms are rejected automatically.
Rights. Figures, tables or data created by others need permission or a licence that allows reuse. Remove confidential information and any personal data you are not allowed to share.

You can use any layout, but our free LaTeX and Word templates give you a clean two-column design that puts the title and authors where indexers expect them.

If the paper is under review at a journal or conference, check its preprint policy first. Posting a preprint is a public disclosure: it can affect double-blind review and patent rights.

Step 2: Create your account

Go to pubarx.com and choose Create account. You can register with your email address and a password, or with Continue with ORCID, which verifies your ORCID iD and links it to your new account. You need to be at least 18 years old and accept the Terms of use and the Privacy policy.

We send you an email to confirm your address. Follow the link in it before you sign in for the first time. After that you can sign in with your email and password, or with ORCID once your iD is linked.

Linking ORCID is not required for submitting, but it connects your papers to your ORCID record, and you need it if you want to write reviews and endorsements yourself.

Step 3: Start a submission

When you are signed in, choose Submit at the top of any page. The submission page lists what you need and shows how many submission credits you have.

Submission credits. Each researcher can submit three new papers free of charge. After that, every community review you publish on another researcher's paper earns one more submission. New versions of your papers never use a credit, and if you withdraw a submission before a decision, the credit is returned.

Choose Start submission. The submission has three steps: Details, PDF, and Review & submit. Each step is saved when you continue, and you can return to an unfinished draft at any time from My submissions in the account menu.

Step 4: Describe your paper (Details)

What you enter here becomes the public record of your paper and the metadata that indexers such as Google Scholar read, so it should match the PDF exactly.

Title. Use the exact title from the PDF. Mathematics can be written in LaTeX between $…$ .
Abstract. Plain text, 100 to 5,000 characters. Separate paragraphs with a blank line.
Keywords. Optional, separated by commas.
Authors. List every author in publication order with their affiliation and, where available, their ORCID iD. Tick This is me on your own entry so the paper appears on your profile.
Type of paper. Research article, review article, technical report, conference paper, or thesis or dissertation chapter.
Subjects. One primary subject and up to three additional subjects.
Language of the paper, and optional comments such as "14 pages, 6 figures".
Licence. Choose how others may reuse your work. CC BY 4.0 is recommended. The other options are more restrictive Creative Commons licences and a non-exclusive licence that only allows reading and downloading. A Creative Commons licence cannot be withdrawn once the paper is public, so choose carefully. The licences page compares them.
Publication details. If the work has also been published elsewhere, add the journal reference and the DOI of the published version.

Step 5: Upload the PDF

Upload the PDF of your manuscript. PubArx checks the file straight away: it rejects files with a password or active content and warns you about possible problems, for example if the title cannot be found on the first page. You can upload a corrected file as often as you need until you submit.

Step 6: Review and submit

The last step shows a preview of your submission. Check the title, authors, abstract, subjects, licence and PDF once more, then:

Choose how to publish.
- Preprint only: your paper gets a dated, public record. Researchers can comment, but no formal reviews are requested.
- Request open review: you invite signed reviews and endorsements from researchers who sign in with ORCID and declare that they have no conflict of interest. All reviews are public.
You can change this choice later from the paper page.
Confirm the declarations. You confirm that all authors agree to the posting, that you hold the rights needed for every part of the paper, that the work is original and follows research-ethics requirements, and that you grant PubArx the licence described in the Terms of use.
Choose Submit for screening.

Submitting does not make the paper public yet. You will receive an email confirming that we have received it.

Step 7: Screening

A moderator checks every submission before it is published, usually within two working days. Screening checks that the work is scholarly, fits the chosen subject, is complete and readable, matches the details you entered, and raises no integrity, ethics or safety concerns. The full criteria are in the screening policy.

There are three possible outcomes, and you receive an email in each case:

Published: the paper becomes public with a permanent identifier.
Revision requested: the moderator explains what to fix. Edit the submission and submit it again; this does not use another credit.
Declined: the moderator explains why. Declined submissions are never made public.

You can follow the status in My submissions, and you can withdraw a submission at any time before a decision.

Screening is not peer review. A published paper has not been checked for correctness, and publication does not mean that PubArx endorses its conclusions. Authors remain responsible for the originality, accuracy and integrity of their work.

Step 8: Your published preprint

Once published, your paper has a permanent identifier and its own page:

Identifier: PubArx:2026.00001 (the year of first publication and a number)
Paper page: https://pubarx.com/abs/2026.00001
Full text: https://pubarx.com/abs/2026.00001.pdf

The paper page shows the abstract, authors, licence and version history, a Download PDF button, ready-made citations in BibTeX and RIS, and view and download counts. It also carries the metadata that Google Scholar and other indexers use, and the paper is available to harvesters through OAI-PMH. Inclusion in Google Scholar and similar services is decided by those services, usually takes a few weeks, and is not guaranteed.

PubArx identifiers are not DOIs. If the work is later published in a journal, post a new version with the journal reference and the DOI (see Step 10), so readers can find the published version.

Step 9: Share your work and take part in review

Share the link to your paper page rather than the PDF, so readers always see the latest version, the licence and the community discussion. Good places include your academic website, your institutional profile, professional networks and research mailing lists. When you share it, say that it is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed.

If you requested open review, reviews and endorsements appear on the paper page, tied to the version they discuss. You can reply publicly to every review and comment. Reviewing other researchers' papers helps the community grow, and each review you publish also earns you a submission credit.

Step 10: Post new versions

Research changes after its first release. To update your paper, open its page while signed in and choose Submit a new version. The form starts from the current version: update what changed, upload the new PDF and describe the changes. The description is shown publicly with the version history.

New versions are screened like the first one and never use a credit. Earlier versions stay available at their own addresses, for example https://pubarx.com/abs/2026.00001v1, and readers can compare consecutive versions word by word.

Published versions are part of the scholarly record and cannot be deleted. If you need to withdraw a paper, post a new version that explains the withdrawal. In the rare cases described in the Terms of use, PubArx may restrict access to a paper.

Frequently asked questions

Does it cost anything?

No. Reading, submitting, reviewing and posting new versions are all free. The number of new papers you can submit depends on your submission credits (see Step 3).

Is my paper peer reviewed when it appears on PubArx?

No. Screening is a quality check, not peer review. If you request open review, signed community reviews may follow, and they are shown publicly on the paper page.

How long does screening take?

Usually up to two working days. You receive an email as soon as there is a decision.

Will my paper appear in Google Scholar?

PubArx provides the metadata and page structure that Google Scholar asks for, but Google decides what it indexes and when. Indexing usually takes a few weeks and is not guaranteed.

Does PubArx assign DOIs?

Not at the moment. Every paper has a permanent PubArx identifier that can be cited.

Can I still submit my paper to a journal?

Usually yes. Many journals and conferences accept papers that were posted as preprints, but policies differ, so check the policy of your intended venue before posting.

Can I delete my paper?

Published versions cannot be deleted, so that citations keep working. You can post a new version, including one that explains a withdrawal. Drafts that were never submitted can be deleted.

Which licence should I choose?

CC BY 4.0 is the most widely accepted open licence and is recommended. If you plan to publish in a journal, check which licence it allows for preprints. The licences page explains each option.

Ready to share your work?

Submit your first preprint, or read the submission guide for more detail. If you have a question, contact us.